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Grain destined for export stacked on Madras beaches (February 1877) I've started writing a series of posts on photography on World...

Monday, 7 March 2011

Coolie, Scousers, Harry Enfield and the Bollywood Tamil Stereotypes

Enough of success and collaboration, to celebrate Liverpool, here is a little bit of Visual History, courtesy of Manmohan Desai, Bollywood film director and master of the unlikely plot.

In Desai's 1983 hit, Coolie, Rishi Kapoor plays second fiddle to Amitabh Bachchan in his role as Sunny. The top picture shows Sunny disguising himself as a Tamil. Note the moustache and bubble perm. The second picture shows Harry Enfield's scousers who were supposedly inspired by Liverpool footballer Terry McDermott. But knowing that Harry Enfield is a big fan of Bollywood, and Amitabh Bachchan in particular, Rishi Kapoor's role in Coolie seems the obvious inspiration for the scousers. Is Chennai twinned with Liverpool? Perhaps it should be.

The other interesting thing about Coolie is the use of a bird of prey as a hero, which reminds me of Ken Loach's Kes. Ken Loach, Bollywood, Manmohan Desai - can I make something up to tie all those together or is that going too far?